Ning-Hung Chen

My Memories from APSR 2019, Hanoi, Vietnam

On 30 July 2019, I received a letter from the Editors of Respirology, congratulating me and my co-authors on being the 2019 recipient of the Fukuchi Award for our article "Three-dimensional photography for the evaluation of facial profiles in obstructive sleep apnoea". Our article was selected by an international panel as the best original research article published in Respirology in 2018. One of the authors was invited to attend the 2019 APSR Congress in Hanoi, Vietnam, to accept the Award. It came as a surprise and honour for all of our authors.

I decided to cancel a previous appointment and plan my travel to Hanoi to accept the Award on behalf of all the authors. I was looking forward to my first visit Vietnam. At previous international meetings, I met some physicians from Vietnam who gave me a gentle and polite impression. Vietnam's beef noodle soup is one of my favourite dishes in Taipei. And the beautiful Vietnam landscape also appealed to me.

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Some time after, the Head of the APSR Respiratory Neurobiology and Sleep Assembly, Dr Oku, nominated me for the Head-Elect position and I was successfully elected. The Assemblies meet every year at the APSR Congress, which was another reason for me to attend.

After arriving Hanoi, I joined the Assembly meeting on the evening of November 15th, at which the Award winners of the 'Respiratory Neurobiology and Sleep' poster section presented their study in 3-5 slides. The presenters subsequently received feedback from the Assembly Heads and one member from Education Committee. It was a good opportunity for the presenters to explain and discuss their research, and most presenters responded well to the comments and had good discussions with the audience.

On the afternoon of November 16th, I was invited to moderate the 'Respiratory Neurobiology and Sleep' poster section. Eight posters were presented; some of the posters presented well-executed studies while others were case presentations requiring more information to reach a final diagnosis. I had discussions with each presenter about their poster.

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Finally, the most important event of my visit to Hanoi was receiving the Fukuchi Award at the Congress Gala dinner. I was the first Award winner to be called to the stage during the Banquet. I received the Award Certificate and Wiley voucher from the Editor in Chief of Respirology, Dr Paul Reynolds.

I want to thank all our research team members, especially our good friends in Sydney, Dr Kate Sutherland and Dr Peter A Cistulli. Thanks to their help, this study was published and selected for the journal cover page and for an editorial introduction. And finally, it was also selected as the best Respirology article of the year. This has encouraged our team to increase its focus on the craniofacial study of the disease. I also want to thank the editors of Respirology and the Fukuchi Award selection panel again for choosing our paper. It is really a great honour for the team.

Ning-Hung Chen MD